Photo by Jon Adrian
Code Wines
Code’s winery, east of the southern tip of Skaha Lake.
Waiting makes the end result that much sweeter, or so said our parents when we were pajama’ed children waiting to open our Christmas gifts. But, in the case of Code Wines, the wait really has created a beautiful gift for wine lovers.
Opened in mid-June 2022, Shay and Harlee Code’s winery, east of the southern tip of Skaha Lake, came about after years of searching for the right property to blend Shay’s childhood roots in prairie farming with the couple’s shared appreciation of wine.
They bought the 13 acres in 2016 and in 2017 started planting what is now 10,000 vines covering five acres. In June 2021 the house and winery were completed and in November their liquor licence was approved.
“We were actively looking for over a decade,” Harlee says. “Looking for the perfect spot. We just kind of stumbled upon it by accident. We had some soil testing and just different things we needed to look at and I think we purchased it within a week.”
Although they explored some US states for properties, they felt Canada was the place to be with BC wines growing in popularity on the world stage. And it was hard to beat the property they found. Rocky, hilly, cliffs, steep slopes and a bit of valley floor are just a few aspects of the diverse terrain.
“We just knew it was the perfect spot for us,” she says. “A beautiful view of the village and the lake. We’re adjacent to the nature’s trust and that also makes this spot super special.”
To their knowledge, the site has never been farmed, leaving an opportunity for the vines to naturally grow in the undisturbed soil.
The crushing and production for the first three years of grapes were done slightly north of their property at Roche Wines on Naramata Bench east of Penticton. The relationship Shay and Harlee established with Dylan and Penelope Roche is a continuing one, making it a little easier for the Codes to find their footing in BC’s Okanagan Valley wine region.
“We’re hoping to stay small, under 1,000 cases,” Harlee says. “Never say never, but we’re focusing on the grapes and high-quality wines.”
A single-site estate winery, Code Wines has nine blocks (five acres) currently planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Viognier.
“Part of it is driven by our soils and our location and what grows well in our area at this specific site and kind of the style of wines we want to make,” says Harlee.
Photo by Jon Adrian
Code Wines Walking
Shay, Harlee and Poppy walking in their vineyard near the shores of BC’s spectacular Skaha Lake.
When questioned about having the heavy, spicier Syrah in the same vineyard as the lighter aromatic Pinot noir, Shay explains that Syrah is known for growing just about anywhere. They’ve planted three blocks of it in the hottest areas of the vineyard.
“The birthplace of Syrah isn’t that far from the birth place of Pinot Noir, maybe three kilometers apart,” he says. “So, they’re not as strange of bedfellows as you might think.”
The Codes have taken Pinot Noir under their wing; not quite to the extent of their children Thomas and Molly or Golden Retriever Poppy, but pretty close. They’ve been growing a variety of Pinot Noir clones and processing them individually to allow people to taste the differences from one to the other.
“We’ve got a clone project going on,” Harlee says of the Pinot Noir. “We call it the Clone Collection. Because we’re small and want to remain small, we decided to separate out our clones and process them the same and separately.”
The clone varieties include Pommard 91, Dijon 115, Dijon 77 and one with uncertain, though likely German, lineage they call Ancestor 01. Together with their Pinot Noir 2019 estate blend and the 2020 estate blend, they’ve packaged the six bottles together to make up the collection.
“We’ve had a really good reception,” Shay says of the collection. “That’s been our best seller, the Clone Collection, even better than anticipated.”
This fall will be interesting for the Codes as it will be the first time they harvest and produce wines on site. The winery is tiny, just 500 square feet with a tasting room built in, which will make logistics interesting as they navigate the first batches.
“We’re very modest,” Shay says. “Nothing fancy or big. We use the space well. We’re doing tastings right in the production facility.”
The Codes also say they will be working closely with the Roches again.
“They’ll be around just to make sure we don’t do anything silly,” he says. “Basically it’s just hands-on over the last three years working alongside Dylan and Penelope, both of us participating at different times. They’ve just been incredible in helping us and guiding us.”
The Codes are farming organically. Part of it is because they live on site and the family does all of the farming, but it’s also because of a desire to not add anything to the land that wasn’t there previously.
“We really want to be stewards of our land and the environment,” Harlee says. “That’s important to us as a value. Living here is a beautiful thing. When we see the bighorn sheep and rattlesnakes and birds building nests in the Chardonnay, you just have a bigger sensitivity to it.”
Taking the Clone Collection a step further, they’ve begun a similar project with the Syrah. One block is on traditional trellises and another, which is on very steep hillside, is planted in the sur echalas style with each vine on its own stake.
“It’s a fairly dense planting,” Shay says. “All farmed by hand. This style is very common from the birthplace of Syrah which is just south of Leon. A lot of their plantings are on very steep hillsides along the Rhone River.”
There are two clones in the Syrah plantings. One is of unknown origin and the other is a combination of Syrah 07 and another clone called Syrah Joseph Phelps, which Shay believes has not been planted in Canada previously. He’s following in the footsteps of Walla Walla’s Christophe Baron with this variety.
“I’ve had a bromance with what he’s been doing for many years,” he says. “He makes unbelievably great Syrahs.”
While he admits there is plenty for them to learn about on the wine side of things, he feels his childhood spent farming in Saskatchewan has served him well on the growing side.
“My farm background has been pretty helpful,” he says. “The next mountain to climb is going to be the winemaking side.”
Fortunately, they have plenty of support. Harlee says the community around them has been nothing but helpful with guidance and enthusiasm for newcomers to the local industry.
“The wine community here is just really supportive and everyone seems to collaborate and share,” she says. “Everyone is willing to talk about what they are witnessing and what they are doing. It’s been a great experience for us.”
